Michael Vincent Dugher (pronounced DUG-ər; born 26 April 1975[1]) is a British former politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Barnsley East from 2010 to 2017.
[2] A member of the Labour Party, he was a special adviser to Prime Minister Gordon Brown prior to his election to Parliament.
[7] During 2006–2007, Dugher worked as a corporate lobbyist for American multinational Electronic Data Systems (EDS), one of the government's largest IT contractors.
[8] Dugher worked at 10 Downing Street from 2008 to 2010 as the Chief Political Spokesman for Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
In November 2012, Miliband appointed Dugher to the position of Labour Party Vice Chair with responsibility for communications strategy.
As Shadow Secretary of State for Transport, Dugher told the New Statesman that he wanted to see "more public control of the railways" under a Labour government.
[27] He has criticised the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign, saying "Boycotting Israeli institutions is ignorant, wrong and counterproductive to peace.
[30] Following the 2015 general election, Dugher said Labour mishandled its relationship with the Jewish community through a combination of neglect and incompetence.
Dugher, who is the Chief Executive of the UK's Betting and Gaming Council, a lobbying group campaigning for the gambling industry,[36] asked "I thought you liked casinos, young Matt?